A feature focusing on Hulk Hogan‘s legal battle with Gawker Media is in the works from Ben Affleck and Matt Damon‘s production company Artists Equity, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.
The shingle has acquired the screenplay for Killing Gawker from scribe Charles Randolph, who earned an Oscar for his work on 2015’s The Big Short. Killing Gawker adapts author Ryan Holiday’s 2018 nonfiction book Conspiracy: Peter Thiel, Hulk Hogan, Gawker and the Anatomy of Intrigue.
Gus Van Sant — who previously directed Damon and Affleck in Good Will Hunting from the pair’s Oscar-winning script — is in talks to helm Killing Gawker. Affleck has been circling the role of Hogan, according to media reports, although casting decisions have not been finalized.
In November 2016, Gawker Media agreed to pay $31 million to Hogan, whose real name is Terry Bollea, to settle the sex tape lawsuit filed by the famed wrestler over the company publishing an excerpt of the footage. The case led to Gawker’s website being shut down.
Peter Thiel, the billionaire tech entrepreneur who co-founded PayPal, helped finance Hogan’s lawsuit and is said to be a key character in the film.
More to come.
